When Nintendo announced the motion control remote for the Wii, longtime gamers were sceptical that it could actually enhance the gaming experience. Indeed, this proved to be mostly true, as games using the Wii remote were more about flailing randomly than anything resembling actual skill. A small handful of games, like No More Heroes and Super Mario Galaxy, used the motion controls to enhance the experience, although in most cases they were extraneous.

That is, until Sin and Punishment 2 came out.

Sin and Punishment is a totally logical fit for the Wii - the nunchuck in the left hand to the control the character, the Wii remote in the right to control aiming. It's far more natural than any of the setups in the original Nintendo 64, and it's almost surprising that it took anyone this long to develop a rail shooter using these controls. Sin and Punishment 2 only took so long because Nintendo didn't realize the demand. It wasn't until they saw the Western sales of the Virtual Console re-release of the original Sin and Punishment that they realized what needed to be done.

Treasure has always had something of a spotty track record with sequels. Games like Gunstar Super Heroes, Guardian Heroes Advance and Bangai-O Spirits are all fine games, but they all falter in one way or another - Gunstar Super Heroes for stripping down its mechanics, and the other two for almost completely reworking the experience. Sin and Punishment 2, though, is probably the only Treasure sequel that not stacks up the original game, but exceeds it.

The application of the motion controls is obvious - it's smoother, more logical and far more approachable. From a technical standpoint, it's obviously improved too - as a native Wii game, it looks leaps and bounds beyond the foggy Nintendo 64, and runs at a solid smooth 60 FPS at almost all times. 

The fundamentals of S&P are pretty much the same. There are still two types of targetting cursors - an entirely manual on, and a lock-on which will reduce damage but make it easier to aim. You can also still reflect projectiles with a sword attack, executed by tapping the Z button. The biggest change is the ability to fly at all times, removing the need to jump. In its place is a dash manuever, which lets you quickly dodge and gives you temporarily invulnerability. While this might theoretically sound like it would make things too easier, there's also a split second after each dash where you're susceiptable to damage, requiring that you not only time them perfectly, but also make sure that you end up in a safe spot. You also have a charge attack, which deals substantially more damage than your standard rapid fire laser. After firing, it takes a few seconds for it to be used again, but careful balancing of dodging and charge shooting is absolutely essential to the mastery of the game.

It's also a much larger game. Sin and Punishment only included three full stages (and a single short one.) The sequel, on the other hand, includes a total of seven full stages, in addition to similarly brief prologue stage, making it over twice the length. It also saves the game after every checkpoint and offers unlimited continues. Once a stage is completed, you can restart at any area, which is perfect for replaying favorite bosses or trying for score attacks.

The scoring is pretty simple. A multiplier slowly crawls up as you kill enemies - when you get hit, it drops a small bit. That's about as complicated as it gets, but many areas are filled with masses of popcorn enemies that fly out in the distance. They're not dangerous, but taking down these swarms will obviously help increase your multiplier further. It also offers leaderboard functionality, if you want to compare your scores to other players.

The stage designs and bosses are of the highest caliber, of what one would expect from Treasure. Each checkpoint usually changes up the scenery or introduces new enemies, so you don't spend more than a few minutes doing the same thing. The scenry is varied, ranging from destroyed landscapes to underwater subways to Japanese forests to desert roadscapes (complete with jumping sand worms of course) to the volcanic expanses of Mt. Fuji. Bosses include all manners of battleships, flying monsters and teleporting magicians, with some of them leaning on the quirky side, like the one guy that transforms into a giant killer whale, amongst other forms.

STORYLINE The North American and European versions includes both English and Japanese voice acting. The North American version is subtitled Star Successor, while the European version is subtitled Successor of the Skies, which sounds slightly better.